OGame Turtles and Defense Guide

OGame Turtles and Defense Guide by Tragic Escape

There are several definitions of what a turtle player is defined as.

1) Defence turtle

This is the most common type, and also the most frowned upon. This is the type of player who will build masses of defence, to make an attack on their planet unprofitable or almost impossible.

Although the Ogame saying ‘There will always be someone with a fleet capable of wiping turtles away’ is mainly true, most of the time players will avoid attacking turtles because no profit is to be made. Unless it’s for the pleasure of wiping out the defence. Also, defence is there to increase attacker losses, thus making it less profitable, and therefore you are less likely to be attacked.

Defence turtles generally do not attack active players, but may often raid inactives with Cargoes, rather than build a fleet, they will invest all resources into mines or more defence. Most turtles will rely on high mines to fuel their buildings, often shipping all resources from 8 colonies to their home planet.

So, if I want to be an uber turtle, what should my defence be?

I will explain that in detail later on … however heres some theory:

How many times has that question popped up, and unfortunately, there is NO answer.

Depending on your points you should try and keep it so that at least 25% of your total points are defence. Later on, that percentage should increase…. Depending on how intent you are on mines, research and other buildings.

The reason I believe 25% is the magic number, is because most of your ‘solid’ points (that is to say, points that can never, ever be taken away from you) will mostly be done before you reach 100k points.

Some of the later research (Gravi, high hyper engine, 24+ mines, and nanite 3+) will come (usually) after the 100k mark. And until then if you are intent on being a solid and hard to crack turtle, at least 25% of your points (so lets say you should have 25k points worth of defence by the time you reach 100k…

Is not that unreasonable.

However, without a fleet to build up, getting points can be hard, so after 100k points you should generally have alot of ‘secure’ points. Allowing you to invest in more defence using just mines as income.

This is vital, just like any fleet player, your defence is your fleet, and you can lose it. If someone wipes out your def for fun (which happens) you will want to be able to rebuild. High mines will be vital in this respect, just the same as a player who gets fleetcrashed will need high mines to rebuild.

2) Fleet/Moon turtle.

This is my favorite, and what I did in uni4. It works fairly well. It does however, require a moon! This technique requires little skill and religious fleetsaving.

I have very sketchy online times, but I can usually assume i’ll be at a computer once a day with a net connection. Generally late at night. This technique works well, it requires 8 planets all geared to producing (ideally) one type of ship.. All I did was let my mines produce, build battleships, send them to my moon, fleetsave them. Within a few weeks of this you can start building up pretty decent fleets.

And after a few months…well, who knows

You will also find that will accumulate crazy amounts of deut since your not moving your fleet that much, there are a few things you can do with this deut:

1) Trade it – damn useful if you have good trading partners. The top 50 in any uni will always need deuter to move their fleet around. Even if you are getting a bade rate for your deut, it’s much better than leaving it sitting at your planet.

2) Phalanx everyone in your range for small, easy to chew targets. This is also an uber tactic. If you have to break away 200 BS from your fleet to munch some poor guys small fleet, do it without hesistating. Small fleets produce debris for little cost to yourself. I used to look for fleets I could mash with no losses whatsoever. The advantage to this is that it’s quicker and more fun than trading.

3) Ideal defence.

Well, people have been asking for a guide on what the ‘perfect’ defence might be. This, unfortunately has the same answer as the perfect fleet question. There is no answer.It is defined in part, by your universe, your points, your alliance, your standing…etc

Although there is, of course, the issue of fodder. Just ships, you will need cheap defence to be used as ‘fodder’ to take fire instead of your big guns.

Rocket Launcher (formerly: Missile Launcher)

This will be your basic fodder. Priceless in large numbers (1000+) they can become annoying at the mid-game when people are concentrating on BS rather than cruisers (which have a RF against these) Effective at the very start of a universe against blind raiders, effective in large numbers as fodder. A large defence might have 1000-2000ML.

Pros – Uber cheap fodder.
Cons – Weak, weak, weak…did I mention it’s weak?

Small Laser

Your second basic fodder. People seem to build larger numbers of these than ML, the reason being they use up a small amount of crystal, allowing for a more effective use of resources rather than just metal for ML. Destroyers have RF v these as well as bombers. A large defence might have 2,000 to 5,000 SL.

Pros – Uber cheap (alternative) fodder (slightly more balanced cost than ML)
Cons – Not much stronger than an ML.

Heavy Laser

4 SL are much more effective for the same cost. However, it’s yet more fodder with a slightly larger hull/shield rating and less RF from the bomber. However, I have been informed one HL will destroy one LF in one round. That’s a pretty decent reason to build these. However I have yet to see turtles use large amount of these. The reason being, a prohibitive metal cost to take out the large fodder fleets. A large defence might have 100-250 HL.

Pros – Its ‘heavier’ than the small laser – It destroys LF in one shot. Less RF against it.
Cons – It’s expensive for what it does. Your much better off buying 4 Smalls.

Ion Cannon

W00t, this is my favorite. Let’s get this straight, people hate these…however, this is where you must make a decision. To have an effective defence, you need not only a range of ALL the defences, but also you need effective fodder. The IC does both of those. For an exorbitant Crystal amount for such a weak weapon, your reward is high shielding. They really do help in larger crashes. I find them innefective until you trying to hold back HOF worthy fleets. At which point in large numbers they can help force a draw. As remember, shielding regenerates each round. A large defence might have 50-500 IC.

Pros – Large shielding.
Cons – Nothing else is good about it. It’s expensive, weak and doesn’t even have a pretty picture.

DOES NOT DISABLE SHIELDS – IGNORE THE DESCRIPTION.

Gauss Cannon

This is the first of the bigger defences. It’s pretty damn effective. It has nothing noteworthy other than the fact it has a good all arond attack/shield/hull. A large defence might have 150+

Pros – Good all rounder.
Cons – Kind of expensive, but not overly so. Useless against fodder heavy fleets on its own.

Plasma Launcher

Whoa, here are the big dudes :0 This can kil anything except a destroyer and a RIP in 1 shot. 8 of these will force a draw against a RIP (yep, thats right – completly on their own) Uber defence basically. A large defence might have anywhere between 50-200 of these.

Pros – Best defence in game, awesome against capital ships. (BS/Bombers/Cruisers/RIPS)
cons – Useless against fodder heavy fleets on its own. Pretty expensive!

Shield domes.

Build these, don’t even think about not building them. Whether you are a raider a crasher, a turtle…whatever. The small and large shield domes are priceless. They can force a draw even against the most obscenely large fleets due to the way the combat works in 6 rounds max. All they do is absorb damage, they don’t protect your defence or fleet, but act as an extra wave of fodder.

Interestingly enough, due to the bouncing rule, Light fighters cannot penetrate the large dome. Speedsim 999,000 LF vs 1 LSD and you
will see that the result is always a draw

Pros – awesome, awesome awesome.
Cons – They don’t fire back?

Inter Planetary Missiles & Anti Ballistic Missiles.

As a turtle, your greatest fear can be being wiped out by Interplanetary missiles. Luckily, Anti ballistic missiles cost less, and it’s a 1:1 ratio (1ABM will stop one IPM) so always make sure you are stocked up nice and properly in ABM’s.

I would say 20-40 ABM’s should be enough to cover any eventuality of IPM attack, given the crazy cost of IPM’s, people wil not want to waste 40 IPM’s just to hurt your defence.

However, when someone is really intent on giving your defences a good bashing. There is little you can do other than build more and more ABM’s. Of course, if you are not online…it can lead to this:

Super Advanced 20% El Jackel [H.C.] -vs- 50cal [Equinox] (TD: ~1.095 Billion) – Bunker Hit

I hope you enjoyed my run-through of defence and turtles.